Well, you can’t say things aren’t interesting in real estate and the economy right now. The real estate market in Cheshire County and the Monadnock Region of New Hampshire and Southeastern Vermont has taken some hits in the last three years but no one can say that opportunities don’t exist for the savvy investor or first-time buyer.

Real estate markets, as a rule, die from the top down and recover from the bottom up which makes certain aspects of the stimulus package potentially just what the doctor ordered for any first-time buyers who are looking to buy and hold a home for the long term.

The seemingly huge number for foreclosed properties as also provided great opportunities for investment buyers that are looking to flip or hold and rent properties as well.

The housing market remains tight through-out the region because of the large number of homes vacated as a result of foreclosure on top of the region’s historically limited housing inventory has actually driven rents up through out the area.

The largest drop in employment in the United States since 1949 has lead to several government programs. The “Making Home Affordable” program is designed to help as many as 7 million families remain current on their mortgages. The program has two main parts the first is to help homeowners with a solid payment history on existing loans owned by Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac but have been unable to take advantage of today’s favorable rates because their homes have lost value, the other is a loan modification to help at risk homeowners avoid foreclosure by reducing monthly payments.

Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, said this morning in a Q&A session with the Council on Foreign Relations was optimistic about the American economy. He did point out at one point that his record or predicting the end of the current downturn has not be correct so far although he still believes that markets should stabilize by year’s end and 2010 should be a year of recovery.

Stabilization and recovery are unlikely to have double digit rates of increase in housing values until there is major economic growth or 1970’s style inflation or perhaps both which would solve problems for home owners that over mortgaged. This may in fact be the best route out of the current problems for both homeowners and a government that have found themselves deeply in debit with limited options.